Olde Reed Rises From Grave in Last-Minute Rally

A tight finish in alumni-student basketball game.

Olde Reed and New Reed battled for supremacy on the basketball court Friday in a nail-biter of a match between students and alumni. But when the dust settled, the old-schoolers came out on top 57-56.

In its first game of the semester, the Reed team, coached by Ried Woodlee, started strong. By the end of the first half, the students were up 30-19 with point guard (and English major) Ciaran Short ’20 claiming 8 points. With 11:15 left in the second half, the students pulled ahead 44-29 and seemed poised to trounce the grizzled elders.

Player Rosters

Students

Pierce Girkin ’17

Erik Dahl ’17

Oskar Eriksson ’17

Matt Chau ’18

Aaron Till ’18

Abenezer Mamo ’19

Eric Mount ’19

Ciaran Short ’20

Zesean Ali ’20

David Kerry ’20

Cyrus Kirkman ’20

Nathan Crespy ’20

Alumni

Bruce Talmadge ’88

Erik Brakstad ’89

Lars Fjelstad ’92

Chris Hallstrom ’92

Colin Daniel ’00

Jesse Graff ’08

Jonathan Donehower ’04

Kasra Shokat ’14

But In the next 10 minutes the alumni went on a remarkable 22-10 run, and with 1:20 left in the game, the students were struggling to hold onto their 54-51 lead.

After a foul, alumni powerhouse Kasra Shokat ’14 found himself at the free-throw line. He made his first free throw, bringing the score to 54-52. His second throw hit the rim but was successfully rebounded by Lars Fjelstad ’92. Lars threw it out to Colin Daniel ’00, who shot the go-ahead 3-pointer and put the alumni ahead 55-54.

The students answered with a two-pointer that gave them back the lead. Now the alumni had the ball and 8 seconds to find a way to score. Jesse Graff ’08 got fouled and walked to the free-throw line. He knocked down the first shot to tie the game, and unleashed the second—players on both sides of the line watching the ball arc toward the basket in what felt like an eternity—to put the alumni up by a single point.

With 1.2 seconds left on the clock, the students had the final possession. Student captain and philosophy major Erik Dahl ’17 attempted a high lob to move the ball down the court, but unfortunately the ball hit the rafters and possession returned to the alumni. In a final moment of drama, Erik managed to intercept Kasra’s throw-in. With 0.7 seconds remaining, he took the last shot, but fell short. The buzzer sounded and Olde Reed took the win. The crowd, mostly students, rooted for their classmates. But being Reedies, there were exceptions. Walker Bolan ’18 rooted for the alumni, he said, because “for most of the game, they were the underdogs. And you gotta root for the underdogs.”

The next match for the Reed team is against Mt. Angel, Saturday, February 11 at 2 p.m. in lower gym. Come and cheer them on!